People without firmness of character love to make up a fate for themselves; that relieves them of the necessity of having their own will and of taking responsibility for themselves.

Death's an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.

The word tomorrow was invented for indecisive people and for children.

Who among us has the strength to oppose petty egoism, those petty good feelings, pity and remorse?

Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly.

However much you knock at nature's door, she will never answer you in comprehensible words.

A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.